Voters brave harsh harmattan weather to cast ballots in Wa Central

Due to the vagaries of the harsh harmattan weather conditions in northern Ghana at this time of the year, it is often difficult to get people step out early in the morning.

As a result, many EC officials at some polling centres could only arrive to set up their electoral materials at about 6:am thereabout.

Visiting a polling station at Huriya basic school at 5:45am located at Tendamba, a suburb in Wa Central, the EC officials were yet to arrive with two agents representing the NPP and NDC present and eight voters already waiting to cast their ballot.

The EC officials started arriving at the polling station at 5:55am with two police officers also arriving 10 minutes later.

After setting up the electoral materials coupled with the necessary protocols with the agents, the process started at exactly 7:am.

Some voters who spoke to me said they arrived early at the centre despite the cold weather in order to vote early and go to their work places.

The 2024 general elections are ongoing across 276 constituencies in the country, with 18.8 million people expected to vote.

The 2024 election has thirteen presidential candidates, with nine of them representing political parties and four being independent candidates.

Of the 18.8 million voters, 459,291 represent 4% of the voter population. 48% of the voters are male, while the female population makes up 52%.

The role of the youth in the elections will be significant as they make up 55% of the voter population.

A total of 40,976 polling centres will be used for the 2024 elections, with 328 already used for the Special Voting exercises that took place on Monday, December 2, and Thursday, December 5, 2024.

According to data published by CODEO, the largest CSO in elections, the 2024 elections will feature 801 parliamentary candidates vying for the 276 seats.

Of the 13 presidential candidates, four are independent, while nine represent political parties. This means that the elections will have nine political parties contesting.

In the parliamentary elections, there are 111 candidates contesting as independents.